Research Articles A survey of reptiles and amphibians on Kinmen Island, Taiwan

as Greater Quemoy) has been a significant outpost during the Chinese civil uprisings (Clark & Tsai, 2002). The massive construction of ships by the late Ming patriot Cheng-Kung, who fought against the Manchu court of the succeeding Ching Dynasty, denuded the island of trees in the mid 17th Century. The deforestation lasted nearly 300 years (Lai, 2004) and caused shifting sand dunes that buried entire villages on the east side of the island, and caused much erosion that shaped the modern landscape (Clark & Tsai, 2002). In more recent times, after the Chinese Civil War, the island was the site of extensive military shelling between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China forces (ROC) in the 1950’s and 1960’s (Chang & Di, 1993). A long time military outpost, the island was returned to the civilian government in the mid-1990’s, and travel to and from Taiwan was allowed. Although Kinmen is administered by the ROC, it is also claimed as part of the territory of the PRC. Direct travel between mainland China and Kinmen was opened in 2002, and there has subsequently been extensive development on the island